


Graffiti

by Hara



Category: Unter Uns
Genre: Angst, Hurt, Love, M/M, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 21:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14627829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hara/pseuds/Hara
Summary: Easy realized that he didn‘t care if strange people hated him. As long as this man loved him nothing else mattered.English version of my German fanfic with the same title.





	Graffiti

**Author's Note:**

> My written English is a bit rusty, so feel free to tell me about any mistakes! :)
> 
> New on Tumblr: https://redlyriumraven.tumblr.com/

From inside the kiosk the graffiti wasn‘t completely legible. Only some of the letters were written on the window pane and even those, scribbled in a hurry and back-to-front, couldn‘t be made out immediatly. Still Easy knew at once what the word said, he felt it – and with that realization he was struck by a strange new pain he had never felt before. The pain one felt about being hated – not for something he had done but for something he was. Something he hadn‘t chosen to be, something that hurt no one and actually wasn‘t anyone‘s business. And yet something people hated him for.  
Slowly he turned around and made his way outside. The few steps it took to get in front of the kiosk felt like forever to him. He felt numb and weirdly disconnected from reality.  
Eventually he arrived in front of the kiosk. Now he could read what was written all over the window without a doubt.  
Faggot.  
Only now that he saw it and there was no way of hoping the graffiti could be anything but a homophobic slur anymore, he realized he‘d had this hope before.  
Easy pressed his lips together.  
Of course he had known homophobia existed, even in a city like Cologne, even in the year 2017, even here in his Schillerallee in front of his kiosk. But until now it had felt more like some abstract concept than something real.  
Realizing he was gay had been confusing at first and for a brief moment the thought of it had scared him. For what would it mean for him? Was he another person now? And what would it mean for the whole life he‘d lived until now? Had it all been nothing but a lie? But then everything he had experienced with Finn had made him just so damn happy. It had felt like finally waking up. All the sex he‘d experienced before had seemed to fade in comparison. He was gay. This realization felt like pure bliss. Then he‘d come out to his friends. There had been some difficulties in the beginning but eventually all of them reacted in an amazing way. Him being gay hadn't changed anything about any of his friendships.  
Being so happy and content Easy didn‘t even think about homophobia rearing its ugly head sooner or later. Until it did.  
Slowly he breathed in and out. So that was part of his life now. Beside the feeling of relief of having finally found himself, beside the excitement of experiencing really good sex at last, beside everything that made him just so glad about knowing he was gay… beside everything good and beautiful suddenly this was also a part of his life: Homophobia, discrimination and knowing he was hated by complete strangers just for being who he was.

~*~

It was almost half a year later and again Easy stood in his kiosk. It was late in the evening and, except for some small candles on the counter and the light of the street lights shining in through the windows, it was dark. Easy couldn‘t think of a time in is life he had felt even remotely as happy as he did in this moment. He and Ringo were back together. All the pain of the last weeks, the heartache, the anger lay in the past. He hadn‘t believed he could forgive Ringo and neither had he wanted to forgive him. But in the very moment he had learned that Ringo was about to leave the city and he would actually loose him it had suddenly felt very easy. Suddenly Ringos intrigues, everything he‘d done to Easy, had felt small and irrelevant compared to the fear of never seeing him again.  
So here they were. After Easy had stopped Ringo from getting on that train and out of his life, they were here in the kiosk to hide from the rest of the world for just one night.  
He pulled Ringo close and kissed him.  
„What do you think? You put those camping mats and your bedroll on the floor so it‘s a little cozier in here?“, he murmured. „I‘ll light more candles.“  
„Cozy? In here?“ Ringo raised an eyebrow „I don‘t believe that‘s possible but I‘ll do my best.“ Smirking he kissed Easy again before getting down to work.  
Easy smiled to himself. He felt radiant with happiness.  
He turned to the counter and picked up the lighter, when his eyes were caught by a tiny spot of black paint on the window. He must have missed it until now but in the light of the candles it seemed to jump at him. He eyed the stain in confusion and then felt a shadow of the pain he‘d experienced all those months ago creep inside his chest again. And suddenly he realized. He hadn‘t thought about it cause so much had happened since that day, maybe he hadn‘t wanted to think about it…  
„Ringo?“, he said in a quiet voice.  
„Mm?“ Ringo sat on his bedroll on the floor and looked up at Easy while smiling.  
„Were you behind this too? The graffiti on my kiosk saying faggot?“  
Ringos smile died and a trace of anxiety came into his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but decided against that and closed it again. Finally he nodded.  
For a while none of them spoke. Easy looked sadly out of the window, feeling a strange mix of the pain he experienced when he‘d discovered the graffiti and the one he‘d felt when Ringo had deceived him. Ringo watched his boyfriend, worried he lost him again just after having gotten him back.  
After a silence that felt eternal Easy spoke again. „You know“, he began „of all the things you did, this one kinda feels like the worst. Doing that you didn‘t only betray me but also yourself.“  
Ringo swallowed hard. „Listen, I know I was a giant asshole and if I could go back and undo everything I‘ve done I would! I love you Easy and I would do anything for your forgiveness. Please...“  
„Ringo!“, Easy interrupted him „stop talking, OK?“  
Ringo fell silent and looked even more afraid. The look on his face reminded Easy a bit of a kicked puppy and that thought almost made him smile.  
„You don‘t have to apologize anymore“, he said softly „when I ran after you to the train station I decided to forgive everything you did and I stand by that.“  
Slowly he walked over to his boyfriend and sat down next to him. They just sat there and looked at each other for a while.  
„It‘s just“, Easy eventually said „I thought the person behind the graffiti was someone who hated me, who hated that I‘m gay. But actually...“, he stopped.  
„Actually“, Ringo continued his sentence „it was someone who loves you and who loves that you‘re gay.“  
Easy laughted and shook his head. „What an irony!“ He pulled Ringo close and kissed him fondly. Then he pushed Ringo back on the bedroll and rolled on top of him. „Well then, show me how much you love it that I‘m gay!“  
Ringo laughted, relieved but at the same time a little sad. „I promise you“, he whispered while wrapping his arms around Easy „I‘ll do all I can to make right what I did wrong. I love you more than I thought possible and I don‘t ever want to hurt you again.“  
Then he kissed Easy once more and Easy felt that he didn‘t care if strange people hated him. As long as this man loved him nothing else mattered.


End file.
